Cell phone tracking means knowing the current location of the mobile phone. Most of the cell phones available in the market today already come equipped with GPS technology. They have a GPS receiver inbuilt to receive the signals coming from the satellite. They mostly use it to track location and to know the direction of their destination.

As the name suggests, Global Positioning System is a satellite based navigation system, which determines the position. The position can be of an individual, a vehicle or of a device.

Global positioning system was originally designed to assist the military but later was extended for civilian use. GPS takes into consideration the time, latitude and longitude to determine the users exact position.

People around the world mostly use GPS for tracking their cell phones. GPS works on radio signals sent by satellites. Since the cell phones already use radio signals to communicate with cell towers, GPS simply carries forward that signal to satellites determining the location of that cell phone.

Parents use cell phone tracking to know the whereabouts of their loved ones. It is also used by police to track, find and catch the criminals. But mostly GPS is used for navigation purposes. A GPS device establishes a connection with three or more satellite to present an exact picture of the surrounding location, then tracks the object and the destination location and finally determines the best way to reach there.

A Cell can be tracked even if the SIM card is changed, as cell phone identifies itself by IMSI (International Mobile Subscriber Identity) and IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity). IMSI has country code, network code and the mobile number. IMEI is s a unique number given to every single mobile phone, which does not change even if the SIM is replaced. Cell phones send this number every time a call is made from them or message is sent, hence making it easier to track.

Off late, Cell phones have started adding geo-tagging facility to their cameras. It calculates the accurate position and time of the photo and tells where and when it was taken.